Jonathan Lekkerimäki | RW

[wildcam]

4 hours ago, Herberts Vasiljevs said:

My post wasn't directed at you. I was talking about those who girls never found attractive in high school, so they take it to the forums to call 18 and a half year olds who had mono and a recent concussion busts (a whopping 6 months after being drafted!).

Sorry, I  didn't mean anything..I guess I still have hope and want to see all young prospect turn out..

I watched Abby Canucks some young Canucks looked good,  Hoglander, Aman , Karlsson,  Podkolzin, Juulsson RD, Woo RD, Rathbone..

Hoglander was most noticeable with his speed...

Nobody 

[Dazzle]

9 hours ago, wildcam said:

 

You will have to explain your humour???? I am talking about a 18 yr old Lekkerimaki that has had injuries all season..

This kid has skill and will show all you negative poster.. 

He is just starting to get healthy in early December so not close to playing his game yet..

Least negative people are in small percentage in life..

If he c

I can assure you that @Herberts Vasiljevs was being sarcastic when he made that comment. He has actually been one of the posters here that is supportive of our prospects while taking into account the contexts for why they sometimes struggle. Not every poster here is like that though. Some have a tendency to criticize the young player because of unrealistic standards. Yes, JL is not Connor Bedard, but few players performed like him this tournament.

 

Also to mention, a good WJC doesn't necessarily translate into a good NHL career. We've seen some stellar performances in recent past (Petan comes to mind, for example). JL has a long way to go before he's an NHLer, but that doesn't mean he won't get there either. He's been through a lot, such as mono and a concussion. We'll just have to see how he does once he's healthy.

[stawns]

17 hours ago, wildcam said:

Bottom line young swede turned 18 at end of summer..He started season with injury and then mono?? 

Just started to get health in early December and still so young.....

Guys on site calling this a Bust is ridiculous ...

I actually thought he looked pretty good inhis limited mins.  Again, to me, this was a coaching issue and it wasn't just JL's mins, it was an overall issue as I felt this was one of the most poorly coached swedish teams I've watched in the tourney

[ilduce39]

This kid was almost universally pumped up to be drafted at that slot and everyone said he’d need some time and would struggle this season coming off mono or whatever.

 

I didn’t really love that we drafted an average size/skating shooting winger but that’s besides the point. Way too early to say what he’ll be.

 

Olli Juolevi could drop out of hockey and become a Nobel prize winning poet - it literally means nothing on how this kid will turn out besides “sometimes picks don’t make it.”

[cocanuck]

I personally am cheering for all of the canucks picks.  I sure hope he makes it and becomes a solid player.  I just hate that i like vegas 2nd and 4th round picks better.  Big, strong and fast,, all that we are not ..  i hope jl feels better and develops well. Canucks need more then a few picks to pan out..  just dont have much faith in jr drafts

[kenhodgejr]

He remindes me a bit of Eli Tolvanen, another small skilled winger who is fighting an up hill battle to dominate on the score sheet in big boy hockey. Personally I was hoping we picked Liam Ohgren because it was said he had a more of a power forward game  which I think our team needs more of.. Lets hope management knows better then me. 

[Ray_Cathode]

On 1/7/2023 at 3:34 AM, Herberts Vasiljevs said:

I ain't scared of no virus!!!!!!!!!

The damn vaccines made me a helluva lot sicker than the three times I got the couff, and the Phizers did nothing in the way of prevention. 

[HighOnHockey]

On 1/6/2023 at 8:28 AM, stawns said:

To me, this was a coaching issue more than a JL issue.  For whatever reason this coach played favourites more than any swedish coach I've seen in awhile.  I watched JL closely and thought he looked fine, the coach just seemed to have something against him.

 

 

 

I thought they were just plain badly coached. Ohgren, a natural LW was playing center. The natural center Carlsson was playing LW. I think it had something to do with the team's weakness on defense, so the forwards were set up to play a defense-first approach. It was detrimental to Ohgren and Lekkerimaki in particular. Ohgren is known as an outstanding two-way forward, but offensively he's primarily a finisher and not so much a line-driver. He looked out of his element and while he was key for them defensively, his offensive game suffered badly. And then as someone not necessarily known for his defensive play, this would help explain Lekkerimaki's usage (or lack thereof).

[stawns]

5 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

I thought they were just plain badly coached. Ohgren, a natural LW was playing center. The natural center Carlsson was playing LW. I think it had something to do with the team's weakness on defense, so the forwards were set up to play a defense-first approach. It was detrimental to Ohgren and Lekkerimaki in particular. Ohgren is known as an outstanding two-way forward, but offensively he's primarily a finisher and not so much a line-driver. He looked out of his element and while he was key for them defensively, his offensive game suffered badly. And then as someone not necessarily known for his defensive play, this would help explain Lekkerimaki's usage (or lack thereof).

it was easily the most poorly coached Swedish team I've ever seen.......from personnel decisions to ice time allotment to an completely ineffective system implemented and no adjustments made.  With a team with as much talent as they had, they should have been far far tougher to play against

[stawns]

9 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

I thought they were just plain badly coached. Ohgren, a natural LW was playing center. The natural center Carlsson was playing LW. I think it had something to do with the team's weakness on defense, so the forwards were set up to play a defense-first approach. It was detrimental to Ohgren and Lekkerimaki in particular. Ohgren is known as an outstanding two-way forward, but offensively he's primarily a finisher and not so much a line-driver. He looked out of his element and while he was key for them defensively, his offensive game suffered badly. And then as someone not necessarily known for his defensive play, this would help explain Lekkerimaki's usage (or lack thereof).

I thought JL looked pretty good in his limited mins and overall misuse and I felt better about the pick after watching him play

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[wildcam]

On 1/7/2023 at 8:29 PM, cocanuck said:

I personally am cheering for all of the canucks picks.  I sure hope he makes it and becomes a solid player.  I just hate that i like vegas 2nd and 4th round picks better.  Big, strong and fast,, all that we are not ..  i hope jl feels better and develops well. Canucks need more then a few picks to pan out..  just dont have much faith in jr drafts

I hope Canucks bring him over and he plays in WHL Vancouver Giants as a 19yr old and work closely with Canucks coaches and developing staff with ever part of his game being only 18.. Would be fun to watch him close and maybe even play few games with Abby Canucks during the season..I. really like the WHL and AHL.

Giants own his import status so it would be easy, keep fingers crossed..

[stawns]

16 hours ago, wildcam said:

I hope Canucks bring him over and he plays in WHL Vancouver Giants as a 19yr old and work closely with Canucks coaches and developing staff with ever part of his game being only 18.. Would be fun to watch him close and maybe even play few games with Abby Canucks during the season..I. really like the WHL and AHL.

Giants own his import status so it would be easy, keep fingers crossed..

I hate that the CHL drafts players from Europe who have no intention of playing in the chl.  If he doesn't want to play there, he should be free to play in the AHL.

[wildcam]

1 hour ago, stawns said:

I hate that the CHL drafts players from Europe who have no intention of playing in the chl.  If he doesn't want to play there, he should be free to play in the AHL.

Klimovich played in AHL as 18 year old..I think Lekkerimaki not being a North American player would be eligible to play in AHL?

Correct me if I am wrong? I know a CHL player cannot play in AHL full time until 20 years old...

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

First some good news: the Athletic’s prospects pool rankings are out and Lekkerimaki is number one on Vancouver’s chart, with a fairly positive report, including the following quote:

 

“Lekkerimaki’s talent is undeniable. He’s dynamic in control and threatening from anywhere in the offensive zone. He can beat you in an instant with a quick catch-and-release or curl-and-drag shot, or hang onto pucks and make things happen himself. He’s got a knack for hitting holes in the net, frequently beating goalies low-blocker and five-hole. He’s got A-level hands, a deceptive release, and a slyness to his game that allows him to get to spots to score with and without the puck.”

 

The bad news: the Canucks’ prospect pool is ranked 28th in the league.

 

https://theathletic.com/3958096/2023/01/13/canucks-nhl-prospect-pool-rankings-2023/

 

Of course, some guys (like McDonough) have aged out of the Athletic’s criteria, and guys like Höglander and Podkolzin no longer count as “prospects” (despite their current AHL status). But it’s also a clear consequence of Vancouver having no 1st or 2nd round picks in 2020, no 1st, 3rd, or 4th rounders in 2021, and no 2nd rounder in 2022. Benning sure did a number on this team on his way out. Especially when it comes to ill-advised “win now” trades of picks for players (many of whom, like OEL, are now ****ing up our cap, or, like Dickinson, have cost us even more assets to clear from the books). Also worth noting that exactly half (5/10) of the current top-10 Canucks prospects (Lekkerimaki, Pettersson, Bains, Johansson, Kudryavtsev) were Allvin additions from the past year.

 

Hopefully Lekkerimaki hits. He’s still very young and full of potential. But with the prospect pool as shallow as Benning left it, we really need this new management to have a high batting average on their draft picks and free agent prospect signings. You can’t have a 28th ranked prospect pool and a 26th ranking (points percentage) team and feel too good about the future. Here’s hoping both of those rankings will be rising significantly in the coming years (maybe with some help from Lekkerimaki).

Edited January 13, 2023 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Fred65]

Wow not a good sign. These truths ( a pro coaches decission ) are really not helping with the future of the kid

Edited January 13, 2023 by Fred65

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

1 hour ago, Fred65 said:

Wow not a good sign. These truths ( a pro coaches decission ) are really not helping with the future of the kid

Not sure if we should really worry too much about these kinds of game to game decisions.

 

Lekkerimaki is the youngest player on that team, and, even among the other 2004s, he’s probably the least physically developed/matured.

 

Add in a challenging past year with some serious health issues (mono, concussion, etc) and it’s not surprising he’s fallen a little behind the expectations from his draft year (and versus some of the others drafted in the same range as him).

 

Djurgårdens IF is also a team with long, proud history of playing (and often winning) at the very highest level in Sweden (SHL, Elitserien, etc) that was recently demoted and is now looking to secure their promotion back to where they “belong.”. They’re likely more focused on short term W/L team success rather than the individual and longterm development goals for a very young, slightly physically immature, NHL drafted prospect who’s been finding his way back from some serious health issues and who has a fairly long runway, developmentally-speaking, before he’s anything close to the end of his expected development timeline.

 

While I’d love to see Lekkerimaki killing it and leading the way right now and, as an 18-year-old, thriving as a pro against men, and playing a big role in Djurgårdens IF’s quest back to the SHL, I’m not really all that surprised (or discouraged) to see him slot in as an extra, even with some other youngsters on the team playing ahead of him, given all the various circumstances and factors involved.

Edited January 13, 2023 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME
Typos

[Fred65]

Alll very well Sid but we can't take this in isolation. There's been a number of occassions when coaches have simply sat him for lengthy periods, this isn't a one off.. No one wants this kid to succeed more than me but coach after coach have shut this kid down. Unlike say Pettersson (D) who has grown into his game time

[Coconuts]

5 hours ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

First some good news: the Athletic’s prospects pool rankings are out and Lekkerimaki is number one on Vancouver’s chart, with a fairly positive report, including the following quote:

 

“Lekkerimaki’s talent is undeniable. He’s dynamic in control and threatening from anywhere in the offensive zone. He can beat you in an instant with a quick catch-and-release or curl-and-drag shot, or hang onto pucks and make things happen himself. He’s got a knack for hitting holes in the net, frequently beating goalies low-blocker and five-hole. He’s got A-level hands, a deceptive release, and a slyness to his game that allows him to get to spots to score with and without the puck.”

 

The bad news: the Canucks’ prospect pool is ranked 28th in the league.

 

https://theathletic.com/3958096/2023/01/13/canucks-nhl-prospect-pool-rankings-2023/

 

Of course, some guys (like McDonough) have aged out of the Athletic’s criteria, and guys like Höglander and Podkolzin no longer count as “prospects” (despite their current AHL status). But it’s also a clear consequence of Vancouver having no 1st or 2nd round picks in 2020, no 1st, 3rd, or 4th rounders in 2021, and no 2nd rounder in 2022. Benning sure did a number on this team on his way out. Especially when it comes to ill-advised “win now” trades of picks for players (many of whom, like OEL, are now ****ing up our cap, or, like Dickinson, have cost us even more assets to clear from the books). Also worth noting that exactly half (5/10) of the current top-10 Canucks prospects (Lekkerimaki, Pettersson, Bains, Johansson, Kudryavtsev) were Allvin additions from the past year.

 

Hopefully Lekkerimaki hits. He’s still very young and full of potential. But with the prospect pool as shallow as Benning left it, we really need this new management to have a high batting average on their draft picks and free agent prospect signings. You can’t have a 28th ranked prospect pool and a 26th ranking (points percentage) team and feel too good about the future. Here’s hoping both of those rankings will be rising significantly in the coming years (maybe with some help from Lekkerimaki).